Sugar: Hiding in plain sight - Robert Lustig

While sugar is easy to spot in candy, soft drinks and ice cream, it also hides out in foods you might not expect -- including peanut butter, pasta sauce and even bologna! Robert Lustig decodes confusing labels and sugar's many aliases to help determine just how much of that sweet carbohydrate makes its way into our diets.

Lesson by Robert Lustig, animation by The Tremendousness Collective.

[rohinigottipati]

@1:05 to @1:22
56 aliases of Sugar
1. Barley malt
2. Barbados sugar
3. Beet sugar
4. Brown sugar
5. Buttered syrup
6. Cane juice
7. Cane sugar
8. Caramel
9. Corn syrup
10. Corn syrup solids
11. Confectioner's sugar
12. Carob syrup
13. Castor sugar
14. Date sugar
15. Dehydrated cane juice
16. Demerara sugar
17. Dextran
18. Dextrose
19. Diastati malt
20. Diatase
21. Ethyl maltol
22. Free flowing brown sugar
23. Fructose
24. Fruit juice
25. Fruit juice concentrate
26. Galactose
27. Glucose
28. Glucose solids
29. Golden sugar
30. Golden syrup
31. Grape sugar
32. HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup)
33. Honey
34. Icing sugar
35. Invert sugar
36. Lactose
37. Malt
38. Maltodextrin
39. Maltose
40. Malt syrup
41. Mannitol
42. Maple syrup
43. Molasses
44. Muscovado
45. Panocha
46. Powered sugar
47. Raw sugar
48. Refiner's syrup
49. Rice syrup
50. Sorbitol
51. Sorghum syrup
52. Sucrose
53. Sugar (granulated)
54. Treacle
55. Turbinado sugar
56. Yellow sugar
I have a list of these on my notepad and check for them on the label everytime I grocery shop

[BaadBadBoy]

In other words, the mandatory food labels are written in cryptic code and unless we have the secret decoder ring, we'll never really know what we're eating.

[matthewsteenburghen]

I noticed this doing my dietary changes. It seemed like most of the grocery story disappeared and my purchasing options dwindled. Then I discovered some awesome new foods and I'm glad I made the changes I did.

[opheliathorson]

In Canada, high fructose corn syrup is called glucose-fructose.

[swallowedinthesea]

It has many different names which aren't listed on the nutrition label, but are cleverly on the ingredients label. While product labels list total sugar content, manufacturers are not required to say whether that total includes added sugar, which makes it difficult to know how much of the total comes from added sugar and how much is naturally occurring in ingredients such as fruit or milk.

[superhund]

USA is the only country I've been in where non-processed oat, just regular oat, is twice as expensive as it's sugary kind. And so forth. Really messed up.

[Daniea]

"Plant based" meat alternatives have loads of hidden sugar and refined oils. I've been a vegetarian for 20+ years and have noticed that it's become far worst over the last 4 years. Quite difficult to avoid.

[GuoSlice]

lustig's research and presentations are gaining traction... i love it!

[frosted]

A couple details here for your health:
Glucose is brain food, it's what every carbohydrate eventually breaks down to in your body. Glucose is also destroyed by stomach acid and absorbed very quickly. Your body works HARD to keep your blood free of sugars by producing insulin, but over time, this can damage your cells, making them insulin resistant (diabetes). When sugar is absorbed quickly, and insulin is produced to clear it, you have a short burst of energy usually followed by a crash. This can also influence moods.
Mostly this is about timing. The longer it takes the sugar to get into your bloodstream, the lower the insulin level needed to clear it out. Simple carbohydrates absorb faster than complex carbohydrates, but all carbohydrates are forms of sugar.
As your insulin level rises, when the sugar is too much for your body to metabolise out, your body responds by storing some of that extra carbohydrate as fat. This can quickly lead to obesity. A good rule of thumb is to start reducing the number of simple AND complex carbohydrates in your diet, emphasizing complex when you have to. This means paying attention to labels. Skipping the sandwich, opting for lower starch vegetables and meats with an occasional piece of fruit as a main diet. This means vegetables at every single meal, lean meats at most meals. A pitfall people tend to fall into is desserts and breads. You can have a slice of bread (a single serving) once a week with little to no damage, or a sugary treat after a high fiber meal once or twice a month. Having an everyday "little treat" is physically VERY damaging, and should be avoided. This is a guideline for life, not a diet to get thin for the summer then go back to eating crap and wonder why you balloon up.  

[alexispearce]

This answered my questions about the fructose in fruit and how it is different from other sources of fructose.  Thank you!

[JamesRycman]

56 nicknames for sugar! Feels like high school.

#health

[alexhenrique]

excellent! No words to describe! Congratulations Dr. Robert Lusting

[ryansmith]

who ever made this is awesome and I want to thank you. I am going to use this in my health coaching! 

[JayLikesLasers]

I particularly enjoyed the Wilhelm scream at the end.

[busterbox]

Er, instead of looking at the ingredients, just look at the nutrition.  Grams of sugar is right there.

[NatetheNerdy]

Everyone else is talking about sugar, and I'm over here like "did no one else think she was really loud."

[priyasharay]

Awesome animation and lesson well taken.

[LinkEX]

3:28 Even my kitchen sink has no sugar in it? Awesome!
Then I can eat that with no worries.

(The tip on not drinking sugary drinks is probably the most important one by the way! You can save lots of unnecesary calories simply by drinking plain water.)

[Timberhawk]

I’m glad to see that Robert Lustig made it to a TED-Ed spot.

[MagmaMusen]

Don't add fruits to the list of things that doesn't contain sugar.. Apples contains an average of 23 grams of sugar. That's a LOT!